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President Donald Trump's recent judicial nominees have Mississippi jurists and politicos worried Mississippi might lose a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

There are four vacancies on the 17-member appellate court. Two seats are open from Texas-based judges retiring, one from a Louisiana judge and one for the seat held by Judge Grady Jolly of Mississippi. Jolly's retirement, announced last March, was effective on Tuesday, his 80th birthday.

Mississippi leaders had expected a Mississippi jurist — recommended to Trump by Mississippi's U.S. Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker — to be named to replace Jolly. That's typically how it would work. But of Trump's nominees announced last week, two are from Louisiana and two are from Texas.

While seats on the federal appellate court that covers Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas are not legally bound to particular states, that has been the longstanding practice. With Jolly's retirements, Mississippi has two active judges on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, Leslie H. Southwick, a George W. Bush appointment, and James E. Graves, an Obama appointment.

Trump's nominations last week prompted a lot of political buzz and concern in Mississippi.

"Could someone please wake up (Sens.) Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker?" attorney Philip W. Thomas wrote on the Mississippi Litigation Review site. "They just had their pockets picked ... With a Republican in the White House, Cochran and Wicker should have viewed the Jolly seat as their seat to fill. They apparently just let it go to Louisiana. That's weak ... (the late Sen.) Jim Eastland is rolling over in his grave."

Another pending vacancy on the court has recently been announced, with Judge Edith Brown Clement of Louisiana planning to retire from active status. But the U.S. courts website, which was updated on Tuesday, lists Clement's vacancy date as to-be-determined.

While Cochran and Wicker would not respond directly to none of Trump's four nominees being from Mississippi, in a joint statement they appear confident Mississippi will keep one of the five seats, apparently counting Clement's in the mix.

"We continue to work with the Trump administration to ensure that a well-qualified, constitutional conservative jurist is named to fill the seat held by Judge Grady Jolly," the Cochran-Wicker statement said. "The administration understands that it is a priority to us that a Mississippian fill this seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. We look forward to President Trump, with the advice and consent of the Senate, announcing such a nomination as soon as possible."

Thomas wrote of the pending Clement vacancy: "Cochran and Wicker need to get back in the ball game and get a Mississippian appointed to fill that seat."

Since Jolly's retirement announcement, there have been numerous names circulated as potential Mississippi nominees for the appellate court. They include: Judge Jack Wilson of the Mississippi Court of Appeals, U.S. District Judge Dan Jordan, U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden and Jackson attorney John Howell.